Tuesday, 20 May 2014

Oh, dear. Like the USian ReThuglicans, the Ontario Progressive *cough* Conservative Party seems to have an ongoing woman problem.

Newsflash to Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak: a job-cutting plan shouldn't bank on women leaving the workforce after they have a baby.

But that seems to be what PC MPP Lisa MacLeod said over the weekend when she appeared on Sun TV to defend her party's campaign pledge to cut 100,000 public sector employees if the Ontario PCs form government.

MacLeod emphasized how "a lot" would be through attrition -- "whether there's maternity leaves or retirement."

Certainly sounds to me like she has a basic misunderstanding of how both attrition and maternity leave work. Which is kinda amusing considering Ms MacLeod held the position of Critic for Children and Youth Services from October 2006 to January 2008.

But she does have a history of misunderstanding how to count job losses and their effects.

Nepean-Carleton Conservative Lisa MacLeod attacked Ontario’s Liberal government Friday for policies she said have cost Ottawa 3,684 jobs since 2006.

But she dodged questions at a “media availability session” about cuts to the public service by the federal Conservative government that have eliminated more than four times as many jobs in the National Capital Region since 2012.

Given the Ontario Conservatives' track record on women's issues, doncha think voters deserve a clarification on whether indeed young mothers face HudAxe's axe?